What's your midfield three with everyone fit?

[POF]

First choice is definitely McTominay, Fred and Bruno. I'd want Pogba on the bench chomping at the bit to get on and make an impact.

Then, if the team needs a goal . . . . . I'd tell him to sit down and bring on Pereira.

 

[cyberman]

McTominay might just be the most overrated player to have ever played for us. Imagine leaving Paul Pogba out for him.

Pogba as a DM huh? Not as if we have had months, if not years, of excuses why Paul doesnt suit a deeper role

 

[RedStarUnited]

You’d think Pogba/Bruno would be fantastic for unlocking easier teams at home.

Yep, we need both in the team to be honest.

People forget that City were at their best when KDB and Silva or B.Silva and Silva were paired with Fernandinho.

 

[Skills]

Pogba as a DM huh? Not as if we have had months, if not years, of excuses why Paul doesnt suit a deeper role

McTominay himself isn't even a DM. If he then he's doing a shocking job of it because he leaves Fred behind covering our CBs.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

I never thought I would say this but for me right now I am not sure Pogba is even in my prefered midfield. It will be interesting to see how Ole is going to solve this puzzle. It ain't always about fielding all your best players. It is also about balance.

At his best,he’s a starter but I do agree the balance of the team comes first. Could work with both he, and Bruno further forward behind the front 2

 

[JPRouve]

There is also Ancelotti's Christmas tree.

---------------Rashford
------Pogba-----B.Fernandes
--Fred-----Matic---McTominay
Shaw--Maguire--Lindelof---AWB
-------------------De Gea

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

McTominay himself isn't even a DM. If he then he's doing a shocking job of it because he leaves Fred behind covering our CBs.

Aye, people keep making this mistake because he gets stuck him, but positionally he's never a DM and isn't asked to play there either.

 

[TRUERED89]

McTominay might just be the most overrated player to have ever played for us. Imagine leaving Paul Pogba out for him.

That's harsh; no one is overrating him, he deserves a lot of credit for this season though, he's been solid in his role. But I'm certainly not one of the posters saying drop Pogba for him, play a diamond to get all 4 in or Fred/McT holding behind Bruno and Pogba..

 

[bosnian_red]

McTominay himself isn't even a DM. If he then he's doing a shocking job of it because he leaves Fred behind covering our CBs.

Hes a defensive box to box though and provides added physicality and energy, which fred needs as a partner. Pogba, Fred and Bruno wouldnt work as a 3, it needs McToninay or Matic in there. Otherwise itll look loose defensively.

 

[Handré1990]

Bruno plus two more players

 

[bosnian_red]

I'd play Pogba on the left wing til Rashford comes back to be honest. Guy can dribble and operate in those areas, different role to what hes done for us but hes done similar before, and I think hed be more than fine. With Rashford back but while Pogba is here, I'd do:

Rashford Martial
Bruno
Pogba Fred McTominay
Shaw Maguire Bailly AWB
DDG​

 

[Massive Spanner]

I think a few people are forgetting that Pogba is still comfortably our best CM, neither Fred nor McT hold a candle to him, despite their improvements.

I'd go Bruno, Pogba, McT - harsh on Fred but McT is better defensively.

Next season I'd like us to sell Pogba (assuming it's pretty much impossible he'll sign a new contract) and Get Graelish and a DM and we'd have probably our strongest midfield since the early to mid noughties.

 

[JJ12]

Fred-McTominay
Bruno

But the first two can easily be upgraded on and made into excellent squad/rotation players. Strength in depth is what wins you major honours. Imagine those two on the bench and playing cup games, instead of Matic and Pereira? Yeah, that's what you call a proper team. One capable of competing with even Liverpool/City.

What a load of nonsense

 

[Nou_Camp99]

I wouldn't play Pogba again personally unless we had no choice or it was a dead rubber match (if we even get one). He's done for me now. Time to move on from the circus. It's Bruno time now.

 

[romufc]

I don't get why fans think Pogba should walk back into the team.

If we are winning, Pogba should sit on the bench and win his place back. He is our most talented and best player when firing, but to put him straight into the team when other players have proved their worth would be poor management from Ole.

What will that do to McT and Fred's confidence? You play well and get dropped for someone who doesnt want to play for the club.

It would be understandable when you dont have players in form and we are losing.

 

[Lynty]

Fred
Pogba
Bruno

 

[cyberman]

McTominay himself isn't even a DM. If he then he's doing a shocking job of it because he leaves Fred behind covering our CBs.

He carries the ball forward yes but they dovetail well. Pogba just kind of wanders around. He just doesnt work well there.
Scott is the deepest midfielder most of the time, either he or matic has to play.

 

[MadMike]

I wouldn't play Pogba again personally unless we had no choice or it was a dead rubber match (if we even get one). He's done for me now. Time to move on from the circus. It's Bruno time now.

If we want to sell him and sell him well we need to put him on the shop window. We need to give him a good games and for him to have a good Euro. Otherwise no one will make an acceptable for us offer and he'll be here next year too.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

If we want to sell him and sell him well we need to put him on the shop window. We need to give him a good games and for him to have a good Euro. Otherwise no one will make an acceptable for us offer and he'll be here next year too.

Our team's run-in and morale is more important than that for me. Also teams will still take him on because they know he has talent. I can forsee him being a huge pain the backside at his next club too. His ego is the size of the moon and he doesn't back it up on the pitch enough. Ronaldo has the ego but delivers the goods. Pogba rarely ever does.

 

[Stacks]

People leaving out Pogba huh? good thing you lot are not managers of the world champions or title winning sides or champs league finalists. Its like people have learnt nothing. Dropping Pogba leaves Bruno as our sole creator and we back to square one

 

[sparx99]

Hard to argue with this based on form.
I'm wondering whether a diamond with 2 up top could be an option we can explore before the end of the season with Pogba back:
------- Bruno ---------
Pogba ------ Fred
------- Mct -----------

Problem will probably be the added attacking responsibility for the fullbacks

This except I'd have Fred and McTominay the other way around because Fred covers the ground so well defensively and I wouldn't have a left-footer on the right side of midfield when we have three other right fooded midfielders in the team.

 

[MadMike]

Our team's run-in and morale is more important than that for me. Also teams will still take him on because they know he has talent. I can forsee him being a huge pain the backside at his next club too. His ego is the size of the moon and he doesn't back it up on the pitch enough. Ronaldo has the ego but delivers the goods. Pogba rarely ever does.

Teams will take him, but not at the price we want (allegedly ~100m). No one will pay that for a player in unknown condition who hasn't played for a year. So he could well not be sold. I also don't see how Pogba is a problem on team unity or morale for the run-in. From what I know he's a liked guy in the dressing room. And it'll hardly be detrimental to the team, since he's still one of our best players and with many games coming up in the run-in we'll need to rotate.

Sounds more like cutting your nose to spite your face, but each to their own.

 

[Canadianred17]

McTominay might just be the most overrated player to have ever played for us. Imagine leaving Paul Pogba out for him.

Agree. I can't believe what I'm seeing in here. A lot of delusions.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

Teams will take him, but not at the price we want (allegedly ~100m). No one will pay that for a player in unknown condition who hasn't played for a year. So he could well not be sold. I also don't see how Pogba is a problem on team unity or morale for the run-in. From what I know he's a liked guy in the dressing room. And it'll hardly be detrimental to the team, since he's still one of our best players and with many games coming up in the run-in we'll need to rotate.

Sounds more like cutting your nose to spite your face, but each to their own.

We won't be getting £100m and we all know that. We will be making a loss on him now regardless. I reckon he'll go for 65-70m in the end. Leave the fecker out and cost him his sharpness for the Euros. The way he and his agent have behaved has been awful.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Depends on the type of game. Despite getting a convincing result against Watford in the end, prior to the penalty, we still struggled to create before that. I think adding Pogba to that pivot, with Fernandes slightly ahead will only enhance our creativity level.

So for games where teams have a low block:

Fernandes
Fred/McTominay Pogba

Tougher games:

Bruno/Pogba
Fred McTominay

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

McTominay might just be the most overrated player to have ever played for us. Imagine leaving Paul Pogba out for him.

At the end of the day, its all about balance and McTominay gives us that.

 

[SaintMuppet]

Pereira, Lingard, Mata at the base.

 

[londonredmaniac]

Imagine playing a player who has no desire to be here...imagine taking out a player performing well for him...

It's not about who is the most talented, it's who has the desire to be there. Pogba is a quality player...who doesn't fancy it. If he does he is our best midfielder I would imagine.

 

[Skills]

At the end of the day, its all about balance and McTominay gives us that.

A team with McTominay, Fred and 2 fullbacks as limited/unproductive as AWB and Shaw seems shockingly unbalanced to me. You're setting your forwards and Bruno up for failure, but I'm guessing then you'll just blame them for not being good enough.

 

[kkengvib]

This except I'd have Fred and McTominay the other way around because Fred covers the ground so well defensively and I wouldn't have a left-footer on the right side of midfield when we have three other right fooded midfielders in the team.

Understand where you're coming from.
As active as Fred is in midfield, I still think he's a bit too lightweight to sit in front of the defense all by himself. He gets bullied off the ball a bit too easy. I see him more as a box to box midfielder, not a defensive one. I only put him on the right because Pogba is most effective on the left.

It's difficult to fit them all in, eh? If Matic was in his prime he'd be perfect for the anchor role

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

What a load of nonsense

In your opinion, yes. Do one.

 

[Skills]

I don't get why fans think Pogba should walk back into the team.

If we are winning, Pogba should sit on the bench and win his place back. He is our most talented and best player when firing, but to put him straight into the team when other players have proved their worth would be poor management from Ole.

What will that do to McT and Fred's confidence? You play well and get dropped for someone who doesnt want to play for the club.

It would be understandable when you dont have players in form and we are losing.

I'm sure they've seen him enough over the years to know that he pisses all over them from a distant.

Being a footballer doesn't mean you lack all self-awareness. Both of them will be well aware that he's a much better player than either of them can ever hope to be, and it's in the clubs best interest to have him fit, motivated and playing.

 

[Bobcat]

I don't get why fans think Pogba should walk back into the team.

If we are winning, Pogba should sit on the bench and win his place back. He is our most talented and best player when firing, but to put him straight into the team when other players have proved their worth would be poor management from Ole.

What will that do to McT and Fred's confidence? You play well and get dropped for someone who doesnt want to play for the club.

It would be understandable when you dont have players in form and we are losing.

Agreed. Pogba is no doubt the most talented midfielder at the club, but there is no way he should just be able to walk straight back into the team now. If he want to be here, fine, he can prove himself like everyone else, but if its the case that hes been faking his injury in an attempt to force a move he should be fecked off to the reserves and never play for us again

 

[Maluco]

I think it’s crazy the lack of respect that Fred gets on here. (McTominey to a lesser extent). Their heart and desire to play for the team sets them apart from certain other players at the club.

But Fred is improving every game and has had so many quality performances against the top teams in the league. He is now consistently producing them. He has played almost every game in the last four months and has never let us down. He is now on the cusp of adding goals and attempting more expansive passing as he gains his confidence.

He is an excellent all round midfielder and people are still judging him on an initial period where he was being thrown in and out of the team and messed around.

He has been given a proper run and he has done more than enough to claim his place. Any talk of upgrading him is rubbish and suggests to me that people aren’t watching the games. He is everywhere.

It’s McTominey, Fred and Bruno for me. An excellent three that seem capable of out working any team on their day, and Bruno just adds that bit of quality and innovation.

For me, the money should go on an RW and CF in the summer, with a young player picked up at CM (Bellingham maybe) to get the minutes that these guys don’t.

Fred has been excellent though and is very much a first team player. He is one of our most important players now and his contribution and quality are being seriously undervalued on here.

 

[Fortitude]

I'd play Pogba on the left wing til Rashford comes back to be honest. Guy can dribble and operate in those areas, different role to what hes done for us but hes done similar before, and I think hed be more than fine. With Rashford back but while Pogba is here, I'd do:

Rashford Martial
Bruno
Pogba Fred McTominay
Shaw Maguire Bailly AWB
DDG​

This works, but I'd have it staggered with Pogba higher left and roamy - essentially Zidane's role at RM. That gives all the energy of Bruno, Fred and McTominay in the middle of the park and far more creativity than we've had in the team for an age.

AWB would need to heavily improve his overlap and attacking game in that system to provide width otherwise you've got a very narrow team. Having said that, the frontline is naturally going to split and Rashford is essentially Henry in terms of the movement and runs he makes.

Bruno has no qualms going into support striker territory, so overall, it's a team with balance and a threat if the players fulfill the entirety of the roles they would have in such a system.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Depends on the opposition I’d say.

Against smaller teams:

Fred
Bruno Pogba​

Against bigger teams:

Fred McTominay/Matic
Bruno/Pogba​

 

[romufc]

I'm sure they've seen him enough over the years to know that he pisses all over them from a distant.

Being a footballer doesn't mean you lack all self-awareness. Both of them will be well aware that he's a much better player than either of them can ever hope to be, and it's in the clubs best interest to have him fit, motivated and playing.

They have, but this is not what we are trying to build. You don't get into the team based on what you can do or how big a name you are. That is why we have been so poor all these years. Hoping these so called big name players turn up.

In contrast, players like Fred and McT who have grafted their way into the first team, giving it their all. Ole says he wants players to work hard for the team and then what drop the players that show that tenacity? what signal does that send?

If Pogba comes back off the bench and shows that he is willing to work for the team, then he can earn his spot.

All these years, we have been hearing how do we get the best out of Pogba, playing players to get the best out of him and yet Bruno has come in and elevated the players around him?

 

[romufc]

Agreed. Pogba is no doubt the most talented midfielder at the club, but there is no way he should just be able to walk straight back into the team now. If he want to be here, fine, he can prove himself like everyone else, but if its the case that hes been faking his injury in an attempt to force a move he should be fecked off to the reserves and never play for us again

Agreed. Alot of fans on here wanting him to go straight into the team is complete crap.

If he is leaving in the summer and the players we have are playing well, why should we play Pogba first choice when we can play McT, Fred, Bruno and see how the team might look going forward?

If the players are injured and we need him to play then fair play, play him.

 

[Skills]

They have, but this is not what we are trying to build. You don't get into the team based on what you can do or how big a name you are. That is why we have been so poor all these years. Hoping these so called big name players turn up.

In contrast, players like Fred and McT who have grafted their way into the first team, giving it their all. Ole says he wants players to work hard for the team and then what drop the players that show that tenacity? what signal does that send?

If Pogba comes back off the bench and shows that he is willing to work for the team, then he can earn his spot.

All these years, we have been hearing how do we get the best out of Pogba, playing players to get the best out of him and yet Bruno has come in and elevated the players around him?

1. No you get in based on ability, of which Pogba has a lot more of than Fred and especially McTominay.

2. So what if they've grafted their way in? Top level football isn't like your regular job at Aldi stacking shelves, where graft and effort is all that counts. Ability matters (which is why more able players cost a lot more money and earn a lot more than their less talented contemporaries). It's the same in every skilled profession.

3. Over 3-4 games. People were sucking off Pogba like a lollypop when he was new too.

 

[FootyGirl88]

Depends on the opposition I’d say.

Against smaller teams:

Fred
Bruno Pogba​

Against bigger teams:

Fred McTominay/Matic
Bruno/Pogba​

I agree with this, we'll be cutting off our nose to spite our face if we leave Pogba out.